By R.L. Bynum

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The route to Mack Brown’s elusive first victory over Florida State was laid out by the elusive, relentless running of Omarion Hampton.

North Carolina combined a versatile offense with solid defense, easing to a 35–11 victory Saturday at Doak-Campbell Stadium in a game that could have easily been even more one-sided given the statistical domination.

But Brown’s first win over his alma mater in nine tries at UNC pushes the Tar Heels (5–4, 2–3 ACC) over .500 heading into its second open date. UNC held Florida State to 201 total yards,v42 rushing yards and a season-low point total.

“It’s kind of embarrassing. They gave me the game ball, and I thought, God, never got a game ball because I’d lost so many games,” Brown said, lamenting past FSU powerhouse teams he couldn’t beat.

Hampton continued to be a force, finishing with 172 rushing and 93 reception yards and a career-high five touchdowns. It was the fourth five-touchdown game in program history, bettered only by Kelvin Bryant’s six-TD game against East Carolina in 1981. His 37th career touchdown run put him sixth on the UNC all-time list, and he became the seventh Tar Heel to rush for over 3,000 career yards.

Hampton is never a guy of many words, and had a very short speech to the team after the game: “Good job, O-line.”

“[They had] my back the whole game; I can’t do it all by myself,” said Hampton after his seventh consecutive 100-yard rushing game. “So, definitely my O-line, they went crazy today. I feel like I just definitely needed them [and wanted to give] them a shoutout and everything.”

Brown said it’s all coming together for the offense, which was 11 of 16 on third downs compared to 2 of 10 for the Seminoles.

“Our offensive line is obviously getting healthy, and Jacoby Criswell is getting more accomplished at calling protections and throwing the ball to the right place,” Brown said. “He was so efficient tonight we only threw it two times the second half with him. But you college football, you got to run the ball.”

Criswell (13 of 17, 211 yards, 1 touchdown, 200.1 passer rating) continued to show improvement weekly, knowing when the pressure was coming and when to run, and showing the poise to complete difficult third-down passes or run past the first-down marker on third down to keep drives going. Between one-legged throws and the ability to hit the underneath passes, mostly in the first half, he’s been impressive.

“I think all this started in the fourth quarter at Georgia Tech,” Brown said. “I saw us getting better then, and we just didn’t finish the game. But I saw us getting better. I saw Jacoby getting better. I saw our offense being more efficient. And I’ve said since the beginning, this would be a team that would finish better than it started.”

The defense kept up the momentum from the Virginia game, showing that it can be a force with a healthy Kaimon Rucker (five tackles, one sack). Granted, FSU (1–8, 1–7) has one of the worst offenses in the league. But, except for one third-quarter drive, the defense was tough again, with seven sacks and two interceptions.

Beau Atkinson and Amare Campbell each also had four tackles, with Atkinson recording a team-high 3.5 sacks.

“I thought we would have trouble stopping the run, and then they would try to go play action over our head,” Brown said. “And I’m just so proud that they rushed for 42 yards. I mean, that’s two weeks in a row where our front seven has stopped the run.”

Three plays after FSU quarterback Brock Glenn completed a 38-yard pass to Hykeem Williams, Ryan Fitzgerald booted a 56-yard field goal to give the Noles an early lead. Alijah Huzzie made a touchdown-saving tackle on the pass play.

UNC drove 50 yards on eight plays on the ensuing drive, but Hampton came up short on a fourth-and-goal at the 1, only his third carry of the drive.

With a second chance a half-yard out on the next Carolina drive, Hampton powered in for the touchdown early in the second quarter to give UNC a 7–3 lead. UNC went 54 drives on nine plays, keyed by Hamilton’s 38-yard reception on a third-and-14 and a nice John Copenhaver catch for 15 yards on a third-and-10.

Criswell miraculously connected with Kobe Paysour for 18 yards after eluding a hard-rushing Patrick Payton when it looked like a sack was imminent on a drive that went 93 yards and included six first downs.

Two plays after the Paysour catch, Hampton bulled in for a two-yard touchdown run with 1:57 left to take a 14–3 halftime lead. Hampton pinballed past defenders on 31-yard touchdown run to cap the first drive of the second half to make it 21–3.

Florida State only had three completions before Glenn completed a 50-yard pass to Malik Benson and a 28-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Khi Douglas with 6:24 left in the third quarter after Douglas beat Kaleb Cost. Lawayne McCoy’s two-point conversion run sliced UNC’s lead to 10.

UNC responded, though, as Hampton carried on all seven plays of a 75-yard drive (aided by an FSU penalty), rushing for 60 yards and scoring on fourth-and-goal a quarter yard from the goal line.

Hampton took a left-handed shovel pass from Criswell and scampered 49 yards for his fifth touchdown to make it 35–11 with 12:19 left. The game was sealed minutes later when Will Hardy intercepted a Luke Kromenhoek pass.

“It just tells you how patient he is,” Criswell said. “On that play, it takes a lot of patience for it to open up and get the right hole that we need for that play. And they had two off the edge. I’m sitting there with the ball, and I’m [thinking] ‘come on, you gotta look. You gotta look. You gotta look. They’re coming.’ Last second, he looks, I gave him the ball and he takes it to the house.”

NOTES — Next weekend, Carolina has its second open date before playing host to Wake Forest on Nov. 16. The Demon Deacons (4–4, 2–2) were off this weekend after winning 27–24 at Stanford on Oct. 26 for their second consecutive victory, and host California at 8 p.m. Friday (ACC Network). … Christian Hamilton was the UNC wide receiver wearing No. 13 in memory of Tylee Craft for the FSU game. There was a painted replica of the Tylee Strong sticker that are on UNC’s helmets in one corner of the stadium. … Hampton is the first Tar Teel to rush for 3,000 since Michael Carter, who gained 3,404 from 2017–20. … The New York Jets were the only team with a press box seat reserved. … It was only UNC’s third victory in Tallahassee, with FSU holding a 9–3–1 edge at Doak-Campbell Stadium and a 17–4–1 advantage overall. … Yankees manager Aaron Boone was at the game to support his son Brandon, who is a student coach.

UNC 35, Florida State 11

ACC standings

Team	ACC	All
No. 4 Miami	5–0	9–0
No. 13 SMU	5–0	8–1
No. 19 Clemson	5–1	6–2
No. 23 Pittsburgh	3–1	7–1
No. 25 Louisville	4–2	6–3
Virginia Tech	3–2	4–4
Syracuse	3–2	6–2
Georgia Tech	3–3	5–4
Wake Forest	2–2	4–4
Duke	2–3	6–3
North Carolina	2–3	5–4
N.C. State	2–3	5–4
Virginia	2–3	4–4
Boston College	1–3	4–4
Stanford	1–5	2–7
Florida State	1–7	1–8
California	0–4	4–4

Saturday’s results
North Carolina 35, Florida State 11
No. 45 Miami 53, Duke 31
N.C. State 59, Stanford 28
Syracuse 38, Virginia Tech 31, OT
No. 25 Louisville 33, No. 19 Clemson 21
No. 13 SMU 48, No. 23 Pittsburgh 25
Friday’s game
California at Wake Forest, 8 p.m., ACCN
Saturday’s games
No. 4 Miami at Georgia Tech, noon, ESPN
Syracuse at Boston College, 12:10 p.m., The CW
No. 19 Clemson at Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
Duke at N.C. State, 3:30 p.m., ACCN
Florida State at No. 10 Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Virginia at No. 23 Pitt, 8 p.m., ACCN
Saturday, Nov. 16 games
No. 19 Clemson at No. 23 Pittsburgh, noon, ESPN
Syracuse at California, 3:10, The CW
No. 25 Louisville at Stanford, 3:30, ACCN
Boston College at No. 13 SMU, 3:30, ESPN
Virginia at No. 10 Notre Dame, 3:30, NBC
Wake Forest at North Carolina, 8 p.m., ACCN

Month/ date	Opponent	Time/ score	TV/ record
August
29	at Minnesota	W, 19–17	1–0
September
7	vs. Charlotte	W, 38–20	2–0
14	vs. N.C. Central	W, 45–10	3–0
21	vs. James Madison	L, 70–50	3–1
28	at Duke	L, 21–20	3–2, 0–1 ACC
October
5	vs. No. 18 Pittsburgh	L, 34–24	3–3, 0–2
12	vs. Georgia Tech	L, 41–34	3–4, 0–3
26	at Virginia	W, 41–14	4–4, 1–3
November
2	at Florida State	W, 35–11	5–4, 2–3
16	vs. Wake Forest	8 p.m.	ACCN
23	at Boston College	TBA	TBA
30	vs. N.C. State	TBA	TBA